Few companies still offer straight-forward benefits including guaranteed buyouts of executives' homes. Instead, creative new enticements are taking their place: Payments to aggressively market a house, bonuses for selling quickly, financial aid for extended temporary housing. The trick is settling the brightest workers into the best spots, while avoiding exorbitant costs related to homes left behind.

Employees, meanwhile, are having to take new risks or bypass enticing job offers. The leap is especially big for the nearly 25% of U.S. mortgage holders who owe more than their homes are worth -- or will likely bring at sale.

Linwood Campbell moved 500 miles from Charlotte, N.C., to take a new job as director of catering at Cincinnati's Hilton Netherland Plaza hotel.

Campbell, who left behind an unsold home in Charlotte, where houses are slow to sell and his property has lost $30,000 in value in the past three years, has been renting a house locally since May. In Charlotte, he's still shelling out $450 a month to cover a portion of his mortgage not covered by his new tenant's rent.

"I wanted to move forward in my career, and I couldn't pass up this opportunity," he says. "In this economy, you have to make some hard choices."

Ultimately, the housing slump may have little impact on employee mobility. Out-of-state moves associated with job opportunities remained steady from 2007 to 2009, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

"The difference between being unemployed and employed is enormous for people," says Abigail Wozniak, an assistant economics professor at Notre Dame. "Even when it means they have to take a loss on their house, it's probably a move they're going to make."

But the slump clearly is changing the way job moves are handled.

Companies changing programs

Nationwide, a third of 100 companies across a range of industries said they changed programs in 2009 and 2010 to help relocate employees, according to a survey by Worldwide Employee Relocation Council, a national trade group.

Some companies now offer to pay a portion of the loss of a home sale —" ranging from $10,000 to more than $100,000, depending on the relocating employee's job status. Other employers are redoubling efforts to hire local talent to forego the moving woes and costs altogether.

Before the recession, employers banked on the fact that a relocating employee's home would be sold quickly. Once the deal was done, companies frequently covered real estate commissions and closing costs.

Many companies also offered programs known as guaranteed buyouts. Typically using a private third-party firm, the company would assure the purchase of a relocating employee's home if it didn't sell in a specified amount of time, usually between 60 and 120 days. The employee would be satisfied, and the employer's mortgage service could turn a fairly easy sale.

Companies "were much more willing to participate in the real estate costs for employees because they knew almost as soon as you could get the sign in your yard, it would be sold," says Susan Schneider, president of Worldwide ERC.

But then the housing bubble burst, property values dropped and homes went unsold for extended periods of time. As costs climbed, these relocation benefits became too risky and companies phased them out.

Today, companies are spending more time with employees up front, learning about their real estate commitments before job offers are extended. Rather than a one-size-fits-all relocation program, benefits are decided case by case. That's one of the biggest changes in relocation practice since the recession, says Shirley Siefert, director of corporate business development at Huff Realty.

"If they're finding an employee is in tough situation, they really want to know how much the company is going to take on," Siefert says.

Some companies are even offering to pay a portion of a new hire's rent to steer the employee away from buying a home, Schneider says. Those benefits most often are extended to employees the company expects to relocate again in the near future, she says.

Since 2007, the average cost to relocate a new hire with a home to sell has increased from $61,900 to $66,600, according to Worldwide ERC. The cost to move current, home-owning employees went from $76,600 to $90,000.

The cost to relocate renters, however, has declined from $18,400 to $17,900. The cost to move current employees who rent is now $20,700, down from $22,200.

"We do see a lot of people going into rental positions who would traditionally be buyers," Schneider says.

Some perks are coming back

As the economy slowly recovers, and more companies look to hire, some firms are again considering perks offered before the recession.

"Some companies are coming back saying, 'We have to put guaranteed buy-outs in the program if we're really serious about getting the talent in the right place,' " Schneider says.

Mostly, those benefits are being extended to executive, senior-level hires and relocations.

Companies also are reporting an uptick in planned relocations.

In a recent survey by Atlas Van Lines of 1,000 relocation managers across the U.S., 30% said their company plans to move workers this year -- the highest percentage since 2005.

The Midwest is now the top destination of transfers, followed by the Northeast, the South and West, according to the survey.

Survey respondents work in human resources-personnel or relocation services departments for service, manufacturing, wholesale-retail and financial or government organizations.

Locally, Seiffert says she began to see an increase in activity in the third quarter of last year.

"We have companies that have been very quietly relocating employees, and even some of our larger clients are starting to pick up now," she says. "It's a very encouraging sign."

•Be prepared to negotiate. Get estimates for moving trucks, and research the cost of living in the city where you'll move. Actual costs provide hard evidence when you ask for more relocation assistance.

•Know your home's value and options. Will renting your home be a more viable option than trying to sell in your market?

•Consider tax benefits of a move. If you're paying out of pocket, a number of moving expenses and other items can be deducted.

•Be a prepared landlord. If you're renting your home, consider using a third-party manager to handle services for your new tenants. Also hang on to warranties for major appliances that could help you avoid costly maintenance charges.

For employers:

•Conduct frank, pre-decision talks. Help candidates understand the financial impact of a move before they say yes, including: A realistic sale price for the old home, current market conditions in the new locale, a realistic financing sum. Pre-decision services increase the likelihood of a successful move, reducing attrition among key hires after significant investments are made.

•Mandatory broker selection. Requiring your mobile employees to work with brokers with proven relocation expertise can make all the difference between an expedited sale or lingering liability.

•Provide marketing incentives. Allowances to pay for home repairs before listing a house often pay off with quicker sales.

•List price guidelines. Having guidelines under which employees must sell their homes —" listing at no more than 105 % of the appraised value, for example —" can be valuable for both the employee and the company's bottom line.

•Carefully select a relocation partner. Consider third parties with sufficient talent, resources and financial stability to handle your program. What sort of value-added services, such as in-house tax and consulting expertise, can they offer?

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted

We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.